I thought I'd throw this together, mostly because I'm hopped up on caffeine. If any other natives wanna add to it, just post it.
Boston Landmarks
Prudential Tower The Pru (as the locals call it) is an important landmark for you guys. Why? Because it marks the location of the Prudential Center, which is connected to the con venue and hotel. The Pru is the second tallest building in Boston, and you can see it from most places. Just walk in the general direction of the Pru, and you'll find everything else easy.
The Citgo Sign
The Citgo Sign marks the location of Kenmore Square. There's very little of interest there, but if you're in Cambridge, it helps you find which way Boston is.
The Mass Ave Bridge (AKA The Harvard Bridge, AKA the MIT Bridge)
This marks the line between Boston proper and Cambridge. On the Cambridge side of the bridge is the MIT campus and a student center with an arcade. It's also the only bridge in the world measured in Smoots.
Important roads
Massachusetts Avenue (AKA Mass Ave) The major north-south route in the area. Mass Ave. starts in the South End and ends (roughly) in Harvard Square in Cambridge. The #1 bus goes the length of it.
Boylston Street The street that, among other things, the Hynes is on. This street is one-way, going away from Mass Ave., and home to little of interest except a Wendy's.
Newberry Street The next street forward from Boylston, if your back is to the Hynes. This street is also one way, going toward Mass Ave. There are a few places of interest here, which I'll talk about in Places of Interest.
Places of Interest
Cherry Mart A Japanese grocery store, on the right side of Newberry Street if you're going with traffic, and down a flight of stairs. Pretty standard fare, but figured you guys would like it.
Men-Tei In between Boylston and Newberry streets (go to the Fire Station on Boylston, and then go down the street it's next too), this noodle joint is pretty tasty, and "Boston Cheap". It's tiny, though, and bound to be packed from pretty much open to close. Order "to go", if you're smart.
Trader Joe's What I would call a European-style grocery store. Full of interesting stuff, and even the microwaveable stuff is yummy. On Boylston, away from Mass Ave from the convention center, on the left if you're going with traffic.
Newberry Comics Despite the name, more of a music/movie store, they have a decent anime selection, and some anime merch, like Revoltech figures. Obviously, on Newberry Street, on the left side if you're going with traffic.
The Other Side Cafe A tasty, if hipsterish, restaurant, on Boylston. You'll have to cross Mass Ave to get to it, thus the name. Main emphasis is on healthy or vegetarian cuisine. A bit pricey, but worth it if you want something other than what you'd get at a fast food joint or at the venue.
Emac and Bolio's Simply the best ice cream in town. On Newberry Street, the left side if you're going with traffic.
Some erotic bakery on Mass Ave that I never remember the name of I just think the concept of an erotic bakery is funny. I don't know why.
Tokyo Kid The best (by which I mean only) anime store in town that I know of. Also, the only place so far that's not within sight of the Hynes, it's way the fuck up in Harvard Square, Cambridge. Just go to Mass Ave. and take the #1 all the way North.
Alright, that should be a fairly exhaustive list of all the interesting things and ways to get around Boston. If anyone has any questions, lemme know.
Wait...wont there be an overabundance of con goers at a SUSHI place THAT'S ALSO CHEAP!? As in really hard to eat there. Just saying. I still want to though.
Just in case anyone's going to be in Boston on the Thursday before the con, I will be as well, so if you wanna hang out, shoot me an IM or tell me here.
Trader Joe's What I would call a European-style grocery store. Full of interesting stuff, and even the microwaveable stuff is yummy. On Boylston, away from Mass Ave from the convention center, on the left if you're going with traffic.
Trader Joe's in a national chain. While not available in all areas, it seems odd to include it as a special "Bostonian" feature.
Trader Joe's What I would call a European-style grocery store. Full of interesting stuff, and even the microwaveable stuff is yummy. On Boylston, away from Mass Ave from the convention center, on the left if you're going with traffic.
Trader Joe's in a national chain. While not available in all areas, it seems odd to include it as a special "Bostonian" feature.
I didn't intend for it to read that way. It's just near the convention center, and I thought that people would like to know it's there.
Preliminary panel/event schedule up. Beyond Dungeons and Dragons is up against opening ceremonies. What are the other panels Rym and Scott are doing at AB?
Looks like Know your Creators at 5pm on Sat and Anime you should see 5pm on Friday.
Also Beyond D&D; and the Late Show. We've additionally been asked to be guests on Anime Squares. (Note that Daryl Surat will be appearing on the Late Show as our guest, and will himself be a square.
Looks like Know your Creators at 5pm on Sat and Anime you should see 5pm on Friday.
Also Beyond D&D; and the Late Show. We've additionally been asked to be guests on Anime Squares. (Note that Daryl Surat will be appearing on the Late Show asourguest, and will himself be a square.
Am I blind? I can't find Anime Squares on the schedule. What time is it?
So, I have come back to the board after a very long absence because today I met Rym and Scott at Anime Squares. I also met Daryl Surat at Dubs That Time Forgot, then saw him at Squares as well. On top of all this, I got to hang out most of my time at the con with Andrew, formerly of Destroy All Podcasts DX, who I happen to go to school with. It was a nice time. Anime Boston feels a bit more "raw" in that you can see more of the unfinished parts of the building, but the actual con feels more big time. There's way more variety in the dealer's room than last year when it seemed everyone had the same plushies and mainline DVDs. Also, since I was pre registered, I got my badge super quick. It was much, much better than last year. The only downers are that I don't have as much money as I wish I had to spend and that I unfortunately put in my time off requests a bit too late so I had to work tonight and will have to go in tomorrow night. Sunday I'll be there all day if I can though.
The con was awesome this year. Meeting Viga, Rym, Scott, WiP, Mosquito Boy, Daryl Surat, and at least one other guy who doesn't go to the forums but listens to GeekNights was pretty cool. It was the first time that I'd gone with more than just a friend, and being able to run in to someone whilst wandering around was pretty neat. Also, I picked up a lot of awesome stuff, and only one useless thing this year (a Kamina phone charm). Some of the interesting things: All of KO Century Beast BESM Second Ed A preview of Ultimo (I WILL PUNCH YOU YOU LITTLE GUY [And Ultimo punched the little guy] *picture of Ultimo punching the little guy*) All of Samurai 7 An ungodly amount of Patlabor Slayers: The Motion Picture The first disc of Sakura Wars.
1. Having my first sake with Neito and Will. 2. Getting tons of complements in my new goth loli dress! 3. Meeting a ton of podcasters I like and going to their panels! 4. I gave my 100 gummi to Erin and Noah as an impromptu wedding gift. ^_^ 5. Freaking out the normals in the mall. 6. Meeting online friends and becoming RL friends. 7. Closing ceremonies.
Well this list is more personal stuff but the con itself was great and refreshed my batteries. I want to go next year...but it's Easter weekend. Hmmmm.
Also, and this has been bugging me for a bit: Rym and Scott mentioned in either Know Your Creators or Anime You Should See that Anno put death threats he got from the end of the Evangelion TV series in End of Eva. As far as I know, those death threats were because of Death and Rebirth, not the end of the TV show.
I went into Olympia Sports on Sunday to get one of the Seibu Lions hats they had for $8 and a woman in there asked the clerk why everyone looked like vampires. That amused me. I began to explain and used the word "anime" and she said the word had no meaning. As for what I picked up: Original Dirty Pair Project Eden and Affair On Nolandia, thus completing my collection of domestically released old school Dirty Pair DVDs. I saw Flash once and have no need to get those. Yotsuba &! Volume 1 aquired for free with a voucher I had from last year's ADV panel Fist Of the North Star the Movie Slayers The Book of Spells I wanted to get Gorgeous but I apparently waited too long on it but more Slayers is always good. Dragonball manga Volume 3, the old uncensored release Anime Boston 2009 T shirt Blue Dragon for the Xbox 360, which is an absolute steal new for $10 even if it turns out it isn't that great. Game Universe is a bit of a drive away from Boston but every video game fan here owes it to themselves to visit them should they come to Boston for the con again. And then as for free stuff I got at the Anime On DVD panel: Gundam 0083 Stardust Memory complete set Star Trek the Next Generation "manga" Path Of the Assasin manga Volume 10 I figure I should read Kazuo Koike at least once in my life and this way it was free. This was a much better con DVD and manga wise in terms of the selection I saw, but the plushies were not at interesting to me, it seemed like everyone mostly had Mario Galaxy stuff, which is fine to have, but the rest of the selection was lacking. I loved ADV's $5 bin, getting 2 Dirty Pair discs I'd been hunting for a while and the Slayers DVD out of it. Last year at Anime On DVD the freebies were mostly loose singles, but this year he had a lot of complete series which was very cool. For those who don't know, the fellow who used to run Anime On DVD, and now works for Mania.com I think it is, has done a panel on Saturday mornings at least the last couple of years and if you ask a question, you get a free DVD or two. The really bad questions got CG hentai. A lot of the questions were about anime on Blu Ray and streaming. Sorry for the rambling post.
I got a feeling I saw Rym and Scott when I left the Artist Alley on Friday. I even called out to them, so I guess either they didn't hear me or they were the wrong person. I spent my two days there walking around with my Scout Piplup.
It's the best year I have attended thus far, registration was much better than last year. My spending was considerably less (I'm jobless) with a signed copy of The Devil's Panties #3, and a few cute figureines. I tried looking for Haruhi DVD 4 Limited Edition, but failed. I've attended three panels: Bad, Anime, Bad!, Really Lame Anime, and The Devil's Panties Panel. When I got out of the Devil's Panties panel, I was told there was a Gekiga panel by...(I forgot your name at the moment! You know who you are!), too bad I missed it (actually, I didn't even hear about it, I though Rym and Scott were just visiting. If they were to return next year and do the panel, I'll definitely attend.).
Also, along with the usual taking pictures of cosplayers and talking to a few of them, I did the cutest or weirdest thing in a con: A picture of my Scout Piplup with the two Fire Emblem cosplayers.
I got a feeling I saw Rym and Scott when I left the Artist Alley on Friday. I even called out to them, so I guess either they didn't hear me or they were the wrong person. I spent my two days there walking around with my Scout Piplup.
If you wanted to see us, you could have come to any of our MANY panels.
Bumping for the new year. The con's just about two and a half months away. Has everyone put in for their panels?
Depending on what gets approved, I'm going to be involved with about 3 panels. My friends and I do a rollicking good "Con Survival" panel, and then I'll be assisting on two more panels: "Craziest Moments in Mecha", which is twoish hours of just strange and awesome moments from all sorts of Mecha anime, and the Mecha panel, done by a bunch of /m/en every year.
How worthwhile is this con? I'm already going to PAX East at the moment, and I just found out that this one is the weekend after. I would either have to stay in Boston between the two cons, or fly here and back, but my being in the USA is not a common occurrence (i.e. unless I end up working in the States soon after I graduate from university in Australia, it's going to be a long while, and even then it's going to be a couple of years).
So, in other terms, is this an opportunity I can afford to miss?
How worthwhile is this con? I'm already going to PAX East at the moment, and I just found out that this one is the weekend after. I would either have to stay in Boston between the two cons, or fly here and back, but my being in the USA is not a common occurrence (i.e. unless I end up working in the States soon after I graduate from university in Australia, it's going to be a long while, and even then it's going to be a couple of years).
So, in other terms, is this an opportunity I can afford to miss?
It's one of the top ten biggest anime cons in the US, by attendance numbers, and the quality of panels is really good.
I saw some of the pictures in the first page of this thread and I'm suddenly really homesick for Boston.
You could always just start... Shipping Up to Boston, to find your wooden leg...
Oh, that old thing? Nah, I traded it in for a prosthetic one...Which I then modded to generate electricity every my knee bends. It's a pretty good system and it recharges the batteries in the calf portion. Alot like regenerative braking on electric cars.
I saw some of the pictures in the first page of this thread and I'm suddenly really homesick for Boston.
You could always just start... Shipping Up to Boston, to find your wooden leg...
Oh, that old thing? Nah, I traded it in for a prosthetic one...Which I then modded to generate electricity every my knee bends. It's a pretty good system and it recharges the batteries in the calf portion. Alot like regenerative braking on electric cars.
All you need know is to install an Easy-Bake oven on that thing and you can walk and bake brownies!
Comments
Boston Landmarks
Prudential Tower
The Pru (as the locals call it) is an important landmark for you guys. Why? Because it marks the location of the Prudential Center, which is connected to the con venue and hotel. The Pru is the second tallest building in Boston, and you can see it from most places. Just walk in the general direction of the Pru, and you'll find everything else easy.
The Citgo Sign
The Citgo Sign marks the location of Kenmore Square. There's very little of interest there, but if you're in Cambridge, it helps you find which way Boston is.
The Mass Ave Bridge (AKA The Harvard Bridge, AKA the MIT Bridge)
This marks the line between Boston proper and Cambridge. On the Cambridge side of the bridge is the MIT campus and a student center with an arcade. It's also the only bridge in the world measured in Smoots.
Important roads
Massachusetts Avenue (AKA Mass Ave)The major north-south route in the area. Mass Ave. starts in the South End and ends (roughly) in Harvard Square in Cambridge. The #1 bus goes the length of it.
Boylston Street
The street that, among other things, the Hynes is on. This street is one-way, going away from Mass Ave., and home to little of interest except a Wendy's.
Newberry Street
The next street forward from Boylston, if your back is to the Hynes. This street is also one way, going toward Mass Ave. There are a few places of interest here, which I'll talk about in Places of Interest.
Places of Interest
Cherry MartA Japanese grocery store, on the right side of Newberry Street if you're going with traffic, and down a flight of stairs. Pretty standard fare, but figured you guys would like it.
Men-Tei
In between Boylston and Newberry streets (go to the Fire Station on Boylston, and then go down the street it's next too), this noodle joint is pretty tasty, and "Boston Cheap". It's tiny, though, and bound to be packed from pretty much open to close. Order "to go", if you're smart.
Trader Joe's
What I would call a European-style grocery store. Full of interesting stuff, and even the microwaveable stuff is yummy. On Boylston, away from Mass Ave from the convention center, on the left if you're going with traffic.
Newberry Comics
Despite the name, more of a music/movie store, they have a decent anime selection, and some anime merch, like Revoltech figures. Obviously, on Newberry Street, on the left side if you're going with traffic.
The Other Side Cafe
A tasty, if hipsterish, restaurant, on Boylston. You'll have to cross Mass Ave to get to it, thus the name. Main emphasis is on healthy or vegetarian cuisine. A bit pricey, but worth it if you want something other than what you'd get at a fast food joint or at the venue.
Emac and Bolio's
Simply the best ice cream in town. On Newberry Street, the left side if you're going with traffic.
Some erotic bakery on Mass Ave that I never remember the name of
I just think the concept of an erotic bakery is funny. I don't know why.
Tokyo Kid
The best (by which I mean only) anime store in town that I know of. Also, the only place so far that's not within sight of the Hynes, it's way the fuck up in Harvard Square, Cambridge. Just go to Mass Ave. and take the #1 all the way North.
Alright, that should be a fairly exhaustive list of all the interesting things and ways to get around Boston. If anyone has any questions, lemme know.
http://frontrowcrew.com/news/2009/05/14/anime-boston-2009/
Some of the interesting things:
All of KO Century Beast
BESM Second Ed
A preview of Ultimo (I WILL PUNCH YOU YOU LITTLE GUY [And Ultimo punched the little guy] *picture of Ultimo punching the little guy*)
All of Samurai 7
An ungodly amount of Patlabor
Slayers: The Motion Picture
The first disc of Sakura Wars.
1. Having my first sake with Neito and Will.
2. Getting tons of complements in my new goth loli dress!
3. Meeting a ton of podcasters I like and going to their panels!
4. I gave my 100 gummi to Erin and Noah as an impromptu wedding gift. ^_^
5. Freaking out the normals in the mall.
6. Meeting online friends and becoming RL friends.
7. Closing ceremonies.
Well this list is more personal stuff but the con itself was great and refreshed my batteries. I want to go next year...but it's Easter weekend. Hmmmm.
Rym and Scott mentioned in either Know Your Creators or Anime You Should See that Anno put death threats he got from the end of the Evangelion TV series in End of Eva. As far as I know, those death threats were because of Death and Rebirth, not the end of the TV show.
As for what I picked up:
Original Dirty Pair Project Eden and Affair On Nolandia, thus completing my collection of domestically released old school Dirty Pair DVDs. I saw Flash once and have no need to get those.
Yotsuba &! Volume 1 aquired for free with a voucher I had from last year's ADV panel
Fist Of the North Star the Movie
Slayers The Book of Spells I wanted to get Gorgeous but I apparently waited too long on it but more Slayers is always good.
Dragonball manga Volume 3, the old uncensored release
Anime Boston 2009 T shirt
Blue Dragon for the Xbox 360, which is an absolute steal new for $10 even if it turns out it isn't that great. Game Universe is a bit of a drive away from Boston but every video game fan here owes it to themselves to visit them should they come to Boston for the con again.
And then as for free stuff I got at the Anime On DVD panel:
Gundam 0083 Stardust Memory complete set
Star Trek the Next Generation "manga"
Path Of the Assasin manga Volume 10 I figure I should read Kazuo Koike at least once in my life and this way it was free.
This was a much better con DVD and manga wise in terms of the selection I saw, but the plushies were not at interesting to me, it seemed like everyone mostly had Mario Galaxy stuff, which is fine to have, but the rest of the selection was lacking. I loved ADV's $5 bin, getting 2 Dirty Pair discs I'd been hunting for a while and the Slayers DVD out of it. Last year at Anime On DVD the freebies were mostly loose singles, but this year he had a lot of complete series which was very cool. For those who don't know, the fellow who used to run Anime On DVD, and now works for Mania.com I think it is, has done a panel on Saturday mornings at least the last couple of years and if you ask a question, you get a free DVD or two. The really bad questions got CG hentai. A lot of the questions were about anime on Blu Ray and streaming. Sorry for the rambling post.
It's the best year I have attended thus far, registration was much better than last year. My spending was considerably less (I'm jobless) with a signed copy of The Devil's Panties #3, and a few cute figureines. I tried looking for Haruhi DVD 4 Limited Edition, but failed. I've attended three panels: Bad, Anime, Bad!, Really Lame Anime, and The Devil's Panties Panel. When I got out of the Devil's Panties panel, I was told there was a Gekiga panel by...(I forgot your name at the moment! You know who you are!), too bad I missed it (actually, I didn't even hear about it, I though Rym and Scott were just visiting. If they were to return next year and do the panel, I'll definitely attend.).
Also, along with the usual taking pictures of cosplayers and talking to a few of them, I did the cutest or weirdest thing in a con: A picture of my Scout Piplup with the two Fire Emblem cosplayers.
Depending on what gets approved, I'm going to be involved with about 3 panels. My friends and I do a rollicking good "Con Survival" panel, and then I'll be assisting on two more panels: "Craziest Moments in Mecha", which is twoish hours of just strange and awesome moments from all sorts of Mecha anime, and the Mecha panel, done by a bunch of /m/en every year.
So, in other terms, is this an opportunity I can afford to miss?